damned_institute | Day 37: Sun Room

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Day 37: Sun Room

Joe had read some of the larger notes stuck up on the bulletin board when the announcement came on the intercom. All things considered, this Landel guy didn't even seem so bad. Even if these people were held here against their will, he was certainly nice about it.

Apparently, the new patients - including Joe - were to hang around in the Sun Room or go to Arts and Crafts with the kids. Well, there was plenty of information on the board, including maps and descriptions of monsters, for Joe to prepare for the nighttime, when he could seriously get going on fighting his way out. He could look for where the boss would probably be waiting, or where his V-watch might be, and figure out how to fight the monsters. In fact, he had plenty of time to work all that out... but this the first time he'd had to really relax since he got his powers. So it couldn't possibly hurt to enjoy the calm period, could it?

The red-head stepped back from the board, and hopped back onto a comfy-looking couch to digest in the sunlight. He reached up to pull his cap down, and sighed when he realized it wasn't there. "Oh well, nothing's perfect. I still wouldn't call this hell."

[free!]

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[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/510994.html?thread=41273106#t41273106)

Miku did just what she'd planned to do. The little photographer had dressed and was given a cheaply bristled hair brush to comb her hair out. Not for the first time, Miku considered cutting off all that long, dark hair of hers. It would certainly be helpful she had to spend three-fourths of her time trying to detangle it.

A kitten had wandered over to her side and mewed plaintively, then not-so-patiently crawled into her lap, apparently uncaring of whether or not drops of chilly water dropped on it's fur. Miku sighed, amused, and kept working on her hair.

[For Sheena]

[from here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/510994.html?thread=41275410#t41275410)

Sheena was finger combing her purplish-black locks, pink ribbon held in her mouth, as she came into the Sun Room. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, but she noticed a woman close to her age sitting in a nice little sunbeam with a kitten that looked something like what Miku had described herself as. The ninja walked over and nodded.

"Mrr Yommph Miimu?" Her cheeks colored a little and she removed the ribbon from her mouth. "Are you Miku?"

Miku looked up from trying to fight a particularly nasty knot in her hair, using quick, small strokes and her fingers to try and pull the strands of hair apart without breaking them. She winced before answering, "Yes, I am. You..." Miku trailed off and tried to think of her name, pulled from posts on the bulletin. "You must be Fujibayashi-san, then?"

This was a bad angle, since she couldn't really see Sheena's face for her chest. Miku leaned back to get a better look at Sheena's face. "It's nice to meet you, and put a face with the name." The kitten yawned and kneaded the girl's thigh.

Oh good, Sheena had picked the right person. Sheena smiled and then turned away slightly so she could flip her hair down and then back, tying it securely with the ribbon, without pelting Miku with the lingering water in her hair. She then sat down and scritched the kitten behind the years.

"Yup, I am, though just call me Sheena," she replied. "I'm not much for formalities."

"Alright then... Sheena," Miku put her head to the side and gasped when the bristles were caught in the knot. "Oh, ow!" After a few minutes of struggle, the knot finally came undone.

"I hate these little brushes. A-anyway, what would you like to know, Sheena? I know I promised you a story, so what would you like to hear?" she asked and moved on to the next section of her hair. Oh, to have a proper brush and comb, and not this horrible thing.

"Umm..." Now she had to remember which stories Miku had mentioned on the board. She gave the other woman a sympathetic look at the comb, grateful that all she had to do was finger comb her own hair. It didn't matter what she did anyways, it always ended up being all bushy. A wonder they'd managed to tame it at all for the formal party thing in Meltokio; she'd felt like she had ten pounds of pins in her hair.

"Well, you mentioned a house, didn't you? How about... that. Or you choose one. I'm not picky." Sheena scooped the kitten up from Miku's lap, cradling it to her chest. "It's not like I'm gonna get scared or anything." She wasn't. She was positive. Ninja don't get scared. Yeah, right...

"The house... Oh, the Mansion of Sleep. Yes, I'll tell you." Miku finally stopped fighting with her hair and started to tie it up in a bun. She lowered her voice to a more intimate tone, to keep others from listening in. She knew the story, but something else started coming out, similar, but not quite the story she'd heard from the nurses at the hospital in her room.

"A long time ago, there was a place called the Kuze Temple. In this temple, it was said that you could seal away your pain and suffering when you lost your loved ones by tattooing it on a priestess, who gladly suffered for you. Many people visited this temple, up until the point they would have no where on the current priestess to tattoo. So they would inter their feelings into a mirror, and smash it.

"They would then be taken to a place deep under ground, and pinned to the floor with stakes, to sleep forever. If the priestess did not sleep, they would peel the tattoos from her body, skinning her alive, and put them in shrines, so that the Handmaidens could sing to the skin and comfort those spirits trapped inside. This went on for a long time, and finally, one priestess's tattoos became so intricate, they leaked into her eyes. It reflected the suffering she'd taken so willingly before and returned it back on the people who had betrayed her by killing her lover when he'd come to see her once more. They were cursed with this tattoo-like bruise that only they could see. " Miku paused for breath to judge Sheena's expression. "Should I continue?"

Sheena listened, stroking the kitten as it searched for a comfortable spot against her chest to settle down. At first the story sounded interesting, and somewhat familiar with someone being the sacrifice, willing to accept the suffering of other to ease their pain. It sounded like something Colette would have been willing to do if she were capable.

Yet, as the story continued, the ninja felt a cold chill creep up her back and her eyes widened slightly. Tattoos so extensive they ended up in the woman's eyes? Skinning the tattoos to like worship somewhere else cause the woman wouldn't...sleep? Was that an allusion to her dying or something?

And then the whole killing the woman's lover who only wanted to see her one last time... It was horrible! Sheena was about to answer Miku when the kitten had squirmed enough to bury it's cold nose into the ninja's cleavage. Sheena's nerves were already on edge, so she jumped and almost freaked out.

"Gyaaah!" She shuddered and extracted the little furball from attempting to make use of the warmest location on her body. "Hey now... I didn't say you could go there." She picked the kitten up to eye level, her breath coming a lot faster than it should have. "I bet you're male," she said and a quick glance confirmed it. "Figures."

Setting the kitten firmly in her lap, she started petting it again, amused that it started purring. "Uh... yeah... go ahead." She paused. "I'm not scared or anything."

Miku raised her eyebrows, and with great disdain continued, unsure if she should believe Sheena. "Well.. alright, then." The little photographer leaned back on her hands to continue.

"The whole of the Kuze family vanished, falling to the curse. One would think that it would have been over and done, but ghosts with revenge on their minds leak quite easily into the real world. Like a virus, it leapt from person to person, seeking those people that had lost their loved ones. The priestess drew them in, showed them those people they'd lost, and when the bruises had covered the victims' bodies and they could no longer stay awake..." Miku trailed off, and looked sad and resigned.

"When they could no longer stay awake, their bodies in our world would turn to dust, and they would be trapped in the mansion, as ghosts, forever. In the hospitals where I researched this story, the nurses would call them the Lost Patients." Miku took a breath again and wondered just how much she had absorbed from that reading. Perhaps she could apply this to Adelheid's case as well. "From my experience, it didn't happen the same way here. The tattoos vanished of their own accord."

As the story continued, Sheena found herself scooting a bit closer to Miku as it that would ward away the ghosts. Sheena didn't like ghosts. She was fine with the elemental spirits, but she had to admit, seeing all the coffins with the bodies of the fallen Chosen around the Tower of Salvation had been really disturbing.

She did note one thing concerning the story that was relevant to the current location. The prospects of it terrified her, only because... what if it had happened to Zelos?

"Uh... Miku? What if... what if that's what happens to... you know... the people who disappear?" Sheena cradled the kitten to her chest again, not even noticing it nuzzling toward her cleavage again, and pulled her knees in. "You know... the ones that got 'discharged'" She paused. "What if they turned to dust and blew away in the wind and we're just told they were released?"

Miku shook her head, "I don't think that happens. People do come back, after all. If they were turning into dust, I think we'd see some evidence of it. And since there is apparently a morgue in this place according to the maps, the bodies would be there and not in a crematorium, which the Institute does not have."

Miku didn't like the idea of anyone burning to death, still alive, anyway.

"...I hope so. I hoped the evil people running this ranch aren't covering it up," Sheena said quietly.

She then looked over quickly, eyes wide. "There aren't any ghosts here, are there? I don't want to see any ghosts."

Miku shifted uncomfortably on the floor, "There are... I... I can see them, sometimes. If I concentrate hard enough. People from before." She laced her fingers together and looked down at them. "But not always. And usually, no one else sees them but me. So, don't worry."

She tried giving Sheena a smile, but it fell flat. "Most ghosts don't even want to hurt people, they point me to things and away from things, sometimes."

Sheena visibly shuddered at the confirmation that there were ghosts, but she quickly put up her tough, unphased facade. "They better not try to hurt anyone or I'll give them a good ol' Mizuho boot."

She hmphed. "I'm used to dealing with spirits, but not ghosts."

Miku laughed a little at that. "Well, ghosts are... definitely special cases. But you shouldn't touch them, ever. Even if they don't mean to, they do great harm to a person's spiritual energy, draining them and killing them, sometimes.

"So, if you do see one," Miku looked up and her dark eyes were very serious. "With all due respect, run away as far as you can, as fast as you can. They can't pursue a person very far."

Sheena grumbled. "Well... we'll see. I can use my mana to affect incorporeal things. I'm not going to let someone fall prey to one. Evil needs to be defeated."

She cuddled the kitten. "I suppose I can leave the non-evil ones alone."

Miku smiled, "If there's no one around, just run away, please. They're far more powerful than we are, half the time." It would be just the same if she encountered one with Sousuke. They would run, and he'd better well run if he knew what was good for him.

Besides, she felt that their last encounter with the priestess would be their last. Miku yawned. "Maybe last night too more energy than I thought."

Sheena scowled but didn't say anything. She was too proud, too stubborn and too skilled to just run away from things. She'd be even less inclined to do so if she had her pacts, but... Okay, she'd think about it.

"What were you up to last night?" Sheena was curious. "I spent most of the night trying to teach a former-robot how to use his new human body to defend himself as well as not attempt to strangle a friend."

"Ah..." Miku laughed and ducked her head. "I threw a slipper at Yuffie-san's Sagara-san... touched a cursed tattoo and learned more things that I expected..." Cuddled with my boyfriend, Miku added to herself and felt her ears heat up under her hair. It was still... weird to think about. Miku had been by herself for so very long, after all, and physical touching was so hard when you weren't sure if something would happen to set off the ability you tried so desperately to contain.

"It wasn't very busy, but it was exciting, I suppose. Even if Sagara-san --that is, my Sagara-san-- doesn't like it when we're in danger." She peeked up at Sheena through her hair.

"Wow... your night was much more exciting than mine," Sheena replied. An even curiouser look crossed the ninja's face as she saw Miku blush. The question was there in her eyes, but she didn't voice it. She'd save prying into Miku's love life after they'd been friends longer.

"And good for you with the slipper tossing. I could hear Sagara from two halls over," she continued. "So... I mentioned you learning some self-defense. You game? Give it a shot so we're not so worried?" She smiled sheepishly and scratched her cheek. "I, uh... think every girl should at least know the right way to kick a guy. You know... just in case."

Miku's head tipped from side to side as she considered it. "Certainly," she said after a moment and pushed her bangs out of her face. "It's only that... I'm not very strong, so it would be difficult, I think." Miku could hardly move a table much less hit anyone.

Unless they were already dead, of course.

"But, if you're willing to be a patient teacher, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try."

"If I can teach the irritable robot how to fight, I can certainly teach you," Sheena said with some exasperation. "I like you. Besides, proper self-defense isn't about strength. it's about using your opponent against himself, using his own momentum to your advantage."

She opened her mouth to continue when she was distracted by the sight of Raine on a nearby couch with some blonde male elf's HEAD in her LAP. The ninja's eyes went wide and she gawked as she watched, the male eventually getting up and sitting next to Raine, the two leaning against each other comfortably.

Now who was that and why didn't Raine mention him?

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Day 37: Sun Room

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